At a
first sight, you might feel like you are looking at two statues. But the fact
is that they are carved out on a single block of wood with two figures on
either side.
Its a
piece of impeccable workmanship of an unknown French Sculptor of the 19th
Century.
Carved
out of a single block of wood, the famous double statue in Salar Jung Museum
showing two life-size figures - Mephistopheles in front and Margaretta at the
back–affords great delight to the visitors.
Haughty,
sneering Mephistopheles and gentle, gracious Margaretta, carved back to back,
provide peerless studies of two diametrically opposite characters from the
famous German drama “Faust” by Goethe.
“Faust,”
published in 1808, has been described as the culmination of Goethe’s remarkable
genius. This great dramatic poem tells the story of an earthly soul tempted by
an evil spirit, “human purity and innocence led astray by faith in man’s
promises and gifts”.
Faust,
the hero of the drama, a man of manifold accomplishments - a theologian, jurist
and physician- finds all knowledge a “bubble” and feels drawn to magic.
Mephistopheles,
the malevolent spirit, complains in heaven to the lord that the highest
pleasures fail to satisfy the haughty Faust. To bring him to a “clearer
morning,” the lord permits Mephistopheles to tempt Faust. Mephistopheles comes
down to earth in the form of a travelling scholar, befriends Faust and by
clever arguments excites his interest in sensual pleasures.
Faust
falls madly in love with Margaretta, a simple, innocent, fair creature, “young
and poor,” who responds with equal warmth. When this illegal love affair,
arranged by Mephistopheles, gets talked about, Margaretta’s brother reproaches
Faust who kills him. Margaretta, tormented at the tragic turn of events, drowns
the baby born to Faust and is jailed. Faust tries in vain to liberate her, who
is borne to heaven. Faust himself gains redemption afterwards by good deeds and
is received in heaven by Margaretta.
In the
drama, Margaretta and Mephistopheles symbolise good and evil respectively. With
rare ingenuity, remarkable insight into the characters and superb
craftsmanship, the sculptor has brought out in one piece of wood the agents of
love and hate in all their life-like attitudes and elements.
The
French genius for subtle characterisation and impeccable workmanship is amply
evidenced in this sycamore carving. About the choice of the German subject for
the French statue, it may be pointed out here that after 1870 there was a surge
of interest in things German in France and other countries. The sculptor of
this superb neo–classical carving embodying warm and life-like figures is not
known.
This magical mirror of Mephistopheles & Margarett reminded me of a woman I knew in Istanbul, whose pain I tried to write about, and all the women who were oppressed due to their traditions.
ReplyDeleteThis woman's name was Vicdan. She was a woman who suppresses her freedom with her own will, as if she was convicted in a conscientious trial, convicted and imprisoned in her own life's prison.
Vicdan has been a woman who lived next to an artist who had existed with his art and who understood her inner impulses and goals of existence. Vicdan was a woman who devoted her life to the one she loved, and got lost in his mirror, created her own BLINDSELF.
Ask Vicdan, “What did you do for yourself? Was there anything special you liked?” When we asked her, the answer we got always came back to Master Painter Lior.
Vicdan had said in a proud, “Master Lior was telling me everytime that on his knees, at a time when he was beginning to disappear within himself, I glorified him again and gave him life.”
Then she raises her face, smiling painfully, Trying to laugh with her tearful eyes:
“It was my life, I didn't feel the need for anything else,” she would.
The predicaments, conditions, and rules that women like Vicdan are in prevent their existence in their brains; triggers their fears or reassures. All these are the elements that surround their roads with asphalt, soil, or glass shards and distort, and glorify them.
What if Vicdan was weak in finding her way and lost in the mirror of her spouse while searching for her own identity and existence?
While Vicdan, lost herself in the mirror of her precious painter husband, she was one of those who buried her goals, wishes, and identity in the secret of the love's mirror. She had created her own demon and housed both poor Margarett and the evil Mephistohole in her own mirror, in her own identity.
In the mirror in the picture; I could sense the indifference in Lior's pointless, provocative smile as he said to Vicdan, "You're the only one who keeps my Green alive." I feel Vicdan's neck bowed, and her captivity behind the Mephistopheles.
Vicdan, oh Vicdan, unable to defend herself in the captivity of the painter Lior, while squeezing her nerves, glands, muscles, and organs in the body she lived in as if she was under attack and defending herself, she gave her freedom, which is the basic condition of her existence, into someone's hands.
An action that would distract the Vicdan, which could not save herself from the mirror and go deeper and deeper, and give her back her self, could be returned with an activation, self-realization, and self-worth first.
While Vicdan, represents all oppressed and bruised women in society;
In the mirror of Vicdan & Painter Lior Master, we would be able to better tell the disappearance, search for identity, or existence struggle of all other women.
(The persons in this magic mirror of Mephistopheles & Margarett reflected a single person in my novel too. Vicdan had losted in Lior's mirror and trapped in Lior Master's silence for 34 years. Vicdan, herself had symbolized both the devil and Margaret.
Because Master Lior had not pressured Vicdan to live with him in silence for 34 years. Vicdan had tortured herself, and where Lior Ustad had gone to "Nothingness", she had remained as a nothing in this world. )